sweasel.com

Weas – by coincidence I just let my subscription to Science News lapse a few weeks ago. I had no complaints about the mag (other than its slight GW-leaning tendency), its just that 2 years of complaints to the USPS didn’t get my deliveries fixed. I was getting the friggin’ thing 2-3-4 weeks late. I finally gave up after too many broken promises and bullshit.

Love the mag though. great synopsis of recent findings, and the book reviews in the back were quite handy.

Whoa. This place is just Baader-Meinhofing the shit out of my reality stream lately.

I’m certain there was a Science Digest many years ago that I had a subscription to. But the site you found deserves to go on my “From Strange to Nuts” blogroll. Uh…I hate to be the dumb one in the room but what’s a pentateuch and should I worry about it?

This word is from the Greek penta, “five” and teuchos, “a tool”. It refers to the first five books of the Bible known as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. All five were authored by Moses and are also known as “the Law”.

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The first five books in the Old Testament. Also called Torah.

I’d like to thank Google:define and all the little people who helped make this happen.

It’s a shame about that term, ‘moonbat’. It so wonderfully sums-up Leftist imbeciles. Sadly, it was coined about one of their greatest champions (the frothy-eyed eco-Nazi, George Monbiot) by someone only marginally less distasteful – Perry de Havilland, whose blog (no, damnit, I refuse to provide a link) ever reminds one why the motto ‘eat the rich’ is absurd.

No one could stomach the consequences.

Oh – BGG – to answer the rest of your penta- question: No, you should not worry about it. IMHO, anyway.

I had to look up Baader-Meinhofing. Yep. What, did you think you were the only subscriber to SN?

It’s just that I haven’t thought of Science News since my subscription lapsed twenty years ago…and we had this terrible, persistent rash of Baader-Meinhof three threads ago.

Is it just me or does that bat have the face of a weasel? A really mean weasel, but still…

Sort of a mashup of Uncle Stoaty and Islamic Rage Boy.

Can’t be Islamic Rage Boy. No pancake.

Huh. Yeah, I s’pose so. The original photo was a bat with a big caterpiller in its mouth, so I had to rebuild its whole face. I suppose I might have rebuilt it in my own image.

All these years working for a corporate employer, I’ve been so very careful not to pinch pictures and put the company at risk. Now it’s big fun to trawl images.google.com and mashup other people’s stuff at will.

“Steal” we would call it, if I were making any money at this.

Read the thread on Baader-Meinhofing. That was strange.

Not “steal”, W. Think of it as “utilizing”.

Appropriating. Borrowing. Maximizing the potential of the foundation laid by others. Et cetera.

Pentateuch = Sifrei Torah (books of Torah or books of the Law). The five books, especially when presented in a way for daily study and including commentary (especially Targum Onqelos (an Aramaic translation) and Rashi (referring to the commentary on the Five Books by Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaqi (R+Sh+Y = Rashi))) are also known as (a) Chumash, which comes from Chamishah Chumshei Torah. In Hebrew chamesh means “five”. In the English-speaking world, editions of the Chumash often are presented in a way that one can easily follow the English translation as the Hebrew is chanted (in liturgical settings) or studied. Artscroll has an edition that has, on the Hebrew side, the Hebrew text, Targum Onqelos, commentary of Rashi, explanation of Rashi, other sundry explanations; on the English side it has a translation of the Hebrew and various commentaries. The Rashi is not translated but rather elements of it are incorporated in the commentaries.

On another subject: When Jesus speaks of “the law”, the Pentateuch is what He is speaking about. When He speaks of “the law and the prophets”, He is referring to two of the three traditional divisions of the Bible in Hebrew: namely, Torah (“law”) and Nevi’im (“prophets”). The rest of the Bible in Hebrew is collected in the division known as Ketuvim (“writings”). The books in Ketuvim tend to be more poetic, lyrical, and literaturical (to coin a word) rather than instructive, exhortative, admonishing, and legislative. That is, the rules are found mainly in Torah and Nevi’im, and it is in this capacity of rule-bearers that Jesus refers to them specifically.

In other words, He is not referring to the law and the prophets in a general or metaphorical sense but rather is referring to a specific set of scriptural books. (I mention this because when I first read the Lord’s quotes on :the law and the prophets”, it was very awkward and I could not get at what He meant until I realized He was not referring to “the law” a law or even the law of Jewish practice but to the first (and paramount) division of the Bible (then extant).

The division of Nevi’im is a bit awkward. The books of Nevi’im are divided into two major categories: The Former Prophets (the books of Joshua (Yehoshua), Judges (Shoftim), Samuel (Shmuel), and Kings (Melakhim)) and the Later or Latter Prophets (the books of Isaiah (Yeshayahu), Jeremiah (Yirmiyahu), Ezekiel (Yechezqiel), and The 12 Minor Prophets (Trei Asar)). The division-within-a-division (The Twelve Minor Prophets within The Latter Prophets) are the books of Hosea (Hosheia), Joel (Yoel), Amos (Amos), Obadiah (Ovadiah), Jonah (Yonah), Micah (Mikhah), Nahum (Nachum), Habakkuk (Chabaquq), Zephaniah (Tzephaniah), Haggai (Chaggai), Zechariah (Zekhariah), and Malachi (Malakhi).

As one may have noticed, Jews divide the Bible differently compared to Christians. Furthermore, various books often present in two different books in the Christian canon are present as single books in the Jewish canon. Specifically: 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel versus Samuel (Shmuel); 1 Kings and 2 Kings versus Kings (Melakhim).

Interestingly, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah of the Christian canon are combined into one book in the Jewish canon (the book of Ezra (Ezra)) and this book is in the division of Ketuvim rather than Nevi’im.

Well! Where do Job and Song of Solomon go? I love those two…they’re so weird.

Job was a gentile, incidentally. So God was just messin’ with him, I guess…

To the person who just landed on sweasel.com with a Google search of “spell mucous” — “mucus” is the noun, “mucous” is the adjective. As in, “the mucous membrane secretes mucus.”

There goes breakfast. Cheers!

In China, does one need permission to run with mucus?

That is a mighty attractive moon and bat though.

Job was a proto-Jew, he predated Moses.

I just love it here. I feel like I am playing dominos with my great uncles. Except you guys don’t talk about the war much.

Was your uncle particularly good at booger haiku?

Actually, having taken the opportunity for the cheap joke (a speciality) and gotten that out of the way;
I also enjoy the amazing scope and depth of knowledge on important, arcane, and interesting topics that I find here.

I rarely have anything to contribute except making enough noise to keep everyone else from getting any sleep, but, it gives me an excuse to hang around with the big kids.

No, no Lokki! Your contribution is the most important of all! We need someone to encourage ordinary dullards, simpletons and nincompoops to join in. Think of yourself as the floor we all stand on. What could be more important to a strong house than sturdy floors?

Look, if we get TOO incestuous in here, we’ll all grow supernumery nipples. And who wants that?

No, please. No show of hands.

I feel a poem comin’ on… gawd. I can’t stop it. I blame YOU for this one, Mr. Weasel.

I once tossed a coin in a spring,
In hopes of a lark or a fling.
But lo! From the deep,
A Djinn did so creep,
And offered my most wanted thing.

“For the generous gift you’ve coined,”
He said, holding what he’d purloined,
“A wish I will give,
It’s for what I live.
Now tell it to me!” he enjoined.

As I stared at this soggy Djinn,
I noticed where there should have been,
On his chest, nipples two,
But instead he’d a few,
Extras all about on his skin.

With no great amount of good sense,
I blurted my thoughts, though quite dense.
I shrieked, “extra nipples!”
And viewed them as cripples;
To stare or to point makes things tense.

By the time I had realized,
What I’d said, I apologized.
But alas! T’was too late!
My own words sealed my fate.
I’ve now what you must have surmised.

On my chest, nestled in my hair,
I’ve no less than ten nipples there.
All scattered about,
They make women shout,
And make people laugh, point, and stare.

I don’t mind being the floor on which ya’all giants trod, but do try to keep your supernumery nipples off me, OK?

Uhm, an example.

Lokki thinks nervously – ” I don’t think Akismet is going to like this one!

Excellent Work, by the way, Shuko…! 🙂 It puts a whole new spin on Victoria’s secret and her bra company.

And, obviously spontaneous – At least I like to hope so.

I shudder at the thought of someone who just happens to have a lengthy well rhymed poem about supernumery nipples handy for emergencies….

Job.

Imagine going through life named after a task, effort, or endeavor.

Better’n – say – Douche, though.

Or Nipple.

A little known historical question – was Job sorely afflicted with supernumery nipples? Did he just call them boils to keep his bud’s at the sport’s bar from teasing him?

Shuko has raised the question, and fortunately we have the religious scholars at hand who can reveal the real answer….

Well… lemme just look through my cache of pre-worked poems for “spontanaeity.” Hm… I don’t think I have anything. 😮

Yeah, I can’t say that supernumerary nipples constitute a fair fraction of my brain patterns. In fact, I had to look the word up just to know what it meant. My knowledge of extra nipples is pretty much limited to that damn James Bond and “You Only Live Twice.” Anyway, as soon as I read your comment the idea just popped into my brain. No one would really WANT them. But it’d be funny if they just GOT them for one reason or another… like maybe if there was a “Nipplous Disorder” or something. xD But I found a wish-granting genie a more likely probability. :p

As for your science magazine, I’m sorry to see that they’ve chosen to report on “political science,” rather than the more interesting facets of our existence. I find the natural sciences a lot more stimulating than some political pundits (and pundit-posers) proliferating pusillanimous pratings about our president’s present position (it’s alliteration day, btw). If I want to read about science, give me geology, chemistry, astronomy, and biology, not economy, corruption, and scandal. 🙁

I was drinking a coke when I read this and then laughed right out loud. No Fair, I should have been warned.

Holy, CRAP, Lokki.

A 22-year-old woman sought medical care for a lesion in the plantar region of her left foot, a well-formed nipple surrounded by areola and hair. Microscopic examination of the dermis showed hair follicles, eccrine glands, and sebaceous glands. Fat tissue was noted at the base of the lesion. Clinical and histopathologic findings were consistent with the diagnosis of supernumerary breast tissue, also known as pseudomamma. To our knowledge, this is the first report of supernumerary breast tissue on the foot.

These supernumerary breasts can pop up all over the place, including the face, back, and thigh (and foot, obviously). They can be functionally complete, and can even lactate. The authors report some weak and sometimes contradicted associations with other oddities, but no causal mechanism is known. These cases of autonomous self-organization and recruitment of organs are extremely interesting—it suggests that a breast would be a fairly easy tissue to grow in a dish.

Growing a tit on your face! A pseudomamma!That’s my favorite link ever. (Be sure to check the picture).

Okay, just for that, we’ll have to elect somebody else to be the floor.

Yeah I already sent that link to someone I know who has a thing about their feet. I’m sure it will be thrilling.

I thought supernumerary meant, um, uncircumsized – or sumpin?

“Extra” — more than the usual number. My sister-in-law was born with a supernumery (or supernumerary — I’ve seen it spelled both ways) thumb.

Mountain folk. Know’m saying?

Weasel –

So all that “you’re the foundation on which our church flourishes” talk was just a tease until you got what you wanted from me?”

Hmmph! I should have known. You’re just like all the rest

Once I’ve show it to them, you, you…. (sob) I can’t go on.

Shuko – I’d forgotten about ““You Only Live Twice” – that was the book (The movie wasn’t as good) which started my fascination with Japan….. Sigh…

Lokki, you can be any architectural feature you like. Just…pull yourself together, man.

I don’t remember where I found this; probably on a discussion thread at Ace’s: what happens when a law firm commissions itself a happy little company song.

Shuku…Ew. Contageous nipples.

My sister-in-law was born with a supernumery … thumb.

So it was uncircumsized?

Makes me think of Mason Williams and Mooses.

Moosii? Whatever.

Tummy gummers! Man, I nearly popped a digit trying to learn how to play Classical Gas back in the day.

She had the extra thumb snipped off as an infant, but there was a detectable stump.

What did they do with the snipped-off part? Did you save it?

Yep – I worked my fingers to the bone trying to play CG – until I read/heard that it was overdubbed, i.e. that really thick, rich, super-complex, classical acoustic guitar playing is actually TWO guitars. I still don’t know if its true.

That’s how Deep River Blues is done, if you’ve ever seen Doc Watson play in person.

As my sister-in-law was from way, WAY back in the mountains, there’s no telling and I refuse to speculate. Refuse. I have nightmares as it is.

She had twin nephews named Bannister and Doorstep. I remember that.

She had twin nephews named Bannister and Doorstep. I remember that.

All right. Go on, pull the other one now.

What do you call a man with no arms and no legs that is laying at Weasel’s nephews doorstep?

Man, way back in the mountains reminded me of the summer I taught church music schools for the Tennessee Baptist Convention. I lived with Deliverance as a theme song, and that was waaaay before the movie.

One week I almost got run out of town (so to speak) because I was reading Michener’s Hawaii, that racy piece of literary trash.

Meanwhile, I aspire to elevate alliteration to the acme of achievement, although artful authorship abandons accolades.

McGoo, third base?

Not my nephew! We lived in mountains; we weren’t mountain people. Big difference. (Hint: cousins, yes. Siblings, no).

Here’s a pretty good recording I nicked off the web of Doc Watson playing Deep River Blues with person unknown. After they play the tune, Unknown Man interviews Watson about whether he realized it was a duet when he first heard the record. I deleted that part.

It’s a good version, though. Like completely informal recordings often are.

My first real grownup professional illustration job was with the Southern Baptist Sunday School Convention. I mostly illustrated the old folks’ Bible study manual.

Man, that sucked.

Bannister and Doorstep
Maybe that’s where they were conceived?

Had so many babies she ran out of ideas, was the version I heard.

Gnus – Mat. Or in this case: Doormat. But 3rd base works too.

I love these, btw. I once went to a “name your child” website and looked at all the (male) names to see if there were any double meanings for each name – like Mat or John, etc. I then made up a no-arm no-leg joke to go with it. I still have the file.

Had so many babies she ran out of ideas, was the version I heard.

I always wondered why there weren’t more “Thatsit” or “Nomore” names. Or “Wearacondomgoddamnit!”

McGoo! I was going to ask why you didn’t post it, and then I discovered you’d biffed your short-lived online presence!

Yeah, I disappeared “Anchovies”. It was an interesting test, and I learned a lot, but it wasn’t “right”. But I was just thinking today that I need someplace to post occasional stuff – y’know, just stuff that comes up in conversations like here.

I thought about checking to see if the names “boogerhaiku” or “triplexlimmerick” was available, but – being lazy, I didn’t.

I need a name thats “valid”, as monty python says. It must be “valid”! And it has to be silly. I’m a silly person, so it has to comply with my inner idiot.

In many parts of the world, marriage between cousins is not only permitted, it is highly encouraged if not expected.

So…I’m feeling quite strange. Yesterday, I was confronted with something wrong I did. I admitted I was wrong. I knew I was wrong. I was made to make restitution for the wrong I did. What makes me feel strange is that I do not regret doing what I did: because I was helping out a friend, I would do it again. My mind (it was wrong!) is so not in sync with my heart (it was for Friend! It was worth it!).

Any one of you been in such a situation, when and where your mind and heart are so not in sync?

Yes Muslihoon….

It’s happened to me. My feelings about that situation are best summed up in a quote from an old movie “Animal House”
(Paraphrasing)

“Every now and then Life calls for a truely stupid and futile gesture”

And yes, I’d do it again too.

Musli, Read Romans 7 (yep, the whole chapter).

🙂

“But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members” (Romans 7:23).